Starting January 1, 2021, the USPTO will charge higher fees for trademark related matters. The old and new fees follow:

Application/Prosecution

TEAS Standard application (per class) Old $275 New $350

TEAS Plus application (per class) Old $225 new $250

Post Registration

Section 8 or 71 Declaration of Use (per class) Old $125 New $225

Deletion of goods and/or services from a registration after submitting a Section 8 or 71 declaration but before the declaration is accepted Old - No cost new $250

Petition/Letter of Protest

Petition to the Director Old $100 New $250

Petition to revive an abandoned application Old $100 new $150

Letter of Protest Old No Cost New $50

TTAB Fees

Notice of Opposition (per class) Old $400 New $600

Cancellation petition Old $400 New $600

Initial 90-day extension request for filing a notice of opposition, or second 60-day extension request (per application) Old $100 new $200

Final 60-day extension request for filing a notice of opposition (per application) Old $200 New $400

Ex parte appeal (per class) Old $200 new $225

Appeal Brief in ex parte appeal (per class) Old $0 New $200

Request for Oral Hearing Old $0 New $500

There is nothing worse than wasting filing fees and driving your trademark application into a brick wall. Trademark attorneys can help you avoid that fate through clearance searches and analyses. Trademark attorneys, like Jonathan, are well versed in assessing the risk of adopting a mark, as its what they do day after day. As I tell my Intellectual Property Law for the Entrepreneur students, “You may be smarter than trademark attorneys, but they probably already closed whatever loophole you think you have on them.”

Here, the question was, can you register JUST SAY IT for "promoting healthy lifestyles encompassing physical, social, emotional and spiritual aspects of positive human oral communications.” You cannot. And one unlucky applicant found that out after applying for that mark and appealing to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board after refusal.

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board determined Nike’s slogan (and registered mark) JUST DO IT is “exceedingly famous.” In its recent case, the TTAB denied the applicant’s registration because of its confusing similarity to this famous mark.

Trademark attorneys can help you judge the degree of risk associated with adopting a brand. In doing so, you can mitigate your risk of wasting precious resources on trademark applications doomed to fail. Or, you may be able to avoid an infringement lawsuit you are doomed to lose